§ Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 21 January 2002 to the hon. Member for Woodspring (Dr. Fox), Official Report, column 673W, for what reason it is not possible to ascribe specific financial savings to the work of the NHS efficiency taskforce. [37431]
§ Mr. Hutton: I apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in responding to this question. I refer him to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 192W.
§ The taskforce and its members provided general advice on a range of issues relating to performance improvements. It would not be possible without 1059W disproportionate cost to quantify the contribution of specific initiatives that the taskforce made to overall efficiency savings.